Veni Vidi Vici

Flying soon..

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:30:00 +0000

Yay, have decided to picked Singapore Airline to bring me all the way from my sunny island to Brisbane.

Kao there are still some stuffs that need to be ironed out.

Bridgin lessons starts next tuesday. Time to focus. No more fooling around. :(

Tons of fish in the water

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:37:00 +0000

Someone asked me,
"Why do you keep loving someone who doesn't love you back?
There are tons of fish in the water."
I simply replied, "Just because it's also water, would you drink from the sea?"

Nuffnang: Old Dogs preview

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:20:00 +0000

Sypnosis: Two best friends -- one unlucky-in-love divorcee (Robin Williams) and the other a fun loving bachelor (John Travolta) -- have their lives turned upside down when they're unexpectedly charged with the care of six year old twins while on the verge of the biggest business deal of their lives. The not-so-kid-savvy bachelors stumble in their efforts to take care of the twins (newcomers Ella Bleu Travolta and Conner Rayburn), leading to one debacle after another, and perhaps to a new-found understanding of what's really important in life.

Caught the trailer and is so hilarious. This is a scene where Robin Williams and John Travolta were denied entry into the Zoo. They then decided on breaking in, to their horror, they ended up in the Gorrila enclosure. After which, all hell break lost. Totally funny!

Old Dogs opens in cinema 31 Dec 2009

The Manhattan Fish Market

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:11:00 +0000

The Manhattan Fish Market its like my fourth time there if i am not wrong. like its rival Fish & Co, it offers seafood at affordable price.

We had their promotion package dinner for 4.
-Seafood Platter
-Dory Fillet and chips
-2 x Icecream
-Drinks

Their seafood platter is huge, consisting of prawns, fish, calamari, garlic rice, fried oyster and chips. The last time i went, i had difficulty finish it with two person. They used a blow torch to burn the cooked prawns, leaving some charred patches on the sauce, real cool. I like the garlic rice, its so fragrant, but they are also very oily. The seafood are fresh. But i find the calamari abit overcooked, very hard to chew on. Actually we picked the dory fish fillet instead of the mahi-mahi. But they served the mahimahi, which was supposed to be more expensive. I dont really like the texture of the fish.

Service is generally quite good with attentive staffs. DBS/POSB cardholders get a 10% discount off.

X'Mas Promotion

Deep Fried Mushroom

Grilled Mahi-mahi with HoHoHo sauce

Seafood Platter

Nuffnang: M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2010: Art & the Law

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:42:00 +0000

Q: Art and the Law is the sixth edition of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival - True or False?
A: True

Dinner at Ikea Tampines

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:09:00 +0000

Went to Ikea at Tampines to do some window shopping. If you do come to Ikea, you shouldn't missed out on their restaurant. First, the fried chicken wings serve there are one of the best i had in Singapore. It is crispy, juicy with tender meat. Then comes the tasty swedish meatball with boiled potato, sauce and jam. We also ordered some side dishes like the fries which was not bad, at least it wasn't soggy or too greasy. The food here is so reasonably priced, no wonder it is always so crowded. Be prepared to wait for quite sometime during peak hours and weekends, because it is so difficult to get seats.

The only thing i hate is irresponsible diners who fail to clear their plates and leftovers. then the next bunch of diners at the same table have to deal with the leftovers. It is not uncommon, is it so difficult to bring the plates and leftovers to the designated place which is just a few metres away?

Meatballs!

Juicy chicken wings

Tasty Fries

Salmon patty burger

Shokudo @ Hereen

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:36:00 +0000

Dined at Shokudo at Hereen, before catching the movie "Perfect Getaway". Shokudo is something like a Marche theme Japanese Restaurant. Diners are first given a card which are use for ordering food and the bill will be charge according the amount incurred on each card.

The place is quite small and the variety is very limited too. But the ambience is pretty good, with the nice lighting and the comfortable round cushion seat we were sitting on. Also there was Japanese pop songs playing in the background.

I decided on having the Beef Fried Rice in Omelette. It was not bad in terms of taste, but was abit dissapointed with the small portion and it cost around $12++.

Beef Fried Rice in Omelette

Milk Tea

Review: Perfect Getaway

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:23:00 +0000

The Perfect Getaway is one of the better thriller movie i have watch this year. The scenary in the film is also one of the best i have ever seen, the beautiful and colorful scenary of Hawaii. Constrasting sharply with the dark and sinister trouble that disrupts the paradise and tranquility. The film was pretty boring at the start except for some sneaky scares along the trail. Only near the end, the drama starts to begin. It is a clever thriller movie with a huge twist near the end of the film. Like other thriller films, be prepared for lots of bloody scene...

*** Spoiler ***

Cliff and Cydney are an adventurous young couple celebrating their honeymoon by backpacking to one of the most beautiful, and remote, beaches in Hawaii. Hiking the wild, secluded trails, they believe they've found paradise. But when the pair comes across a group of frightened hikers discussing the horrifying murder of another newlywed couple on the islands, they begin to question whether they should turn back. Unsure whether to stay or flee, Cliff and Cydney join up with two other couples, and things begin to go terrifyingly wrong. Far from civilization or rescue, everyone begins to look like a threat and nobody knows whom to trust. Paradise becomes hell on earth as a brutal battle for survival begins...

New Lucky Claypot Rice

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:09:00 +0000

My friend recommended me to this Claypot Rice in Clementi. I was suprised when i was told that we have to call first and make a reservation. We took the four person portion consisting of Chinese Sausage, salted fish and chicken which cost us $20.

The coffeeshop location is quite convinient as it just across the road from Clementi Central. When we reach, i was so glad that we make the booking in advance. Looking at the signboard, it states that waiting time for peak hours is 45 to 90 minutes. Gasp!

After waiting for sometime, the steaming hot claypot finally came. When the auntie opened the claypot cover, the aroma from the inside of the claypot gushes out, smells so nice! And unlike other claypot rice, where the rice tends to stick together, the claypot rice here are seperated grains by grains. Also the chicken is so tender and juicy. I really enjoyed the the crispy rice crust on the bottom of the claypot, it has a nice slight burnt/charred smell.

Aftersometime, around 7pm, the coffee shop was fully packed. I felt pretty sorry for the rest of the stalls, because almost everybody there were having the claypot rice.

Scary waiting time on the signboard.

The oil and dark soya sauce.

Ready to serve!

The rice grains are all seperated.

Renaldo's Apple Strudel

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:09:00 +0000

I will never forget the first Renaldo's Apple Strudel i had, it was like love at first taste. Thats like quite sometime ago and they have expanded with outlets now at even Orchard ION. I personally rate the apple strudel there the best in town.

What sets their Apple Strudel apart from other ones that i had tried is their generous filings of the baked apples filling, custard and cream. The crust outside is so flaky and crispy too. Although standards may not be consistent at time, i am still a big fan of theirs!

Thanks to my dearest hamburger for gettting me this Apple Strudel. It's so sweet.

Some brief Company background:
"Founded in 1999, Renaldo's Apple Strudel & Pastries is named after Chef Renaldo who perfect the unique recipe for its founder. (Read more...)"

Generous fillings!

Sugar coated!

Crispy crust!

Yummy!

Justin's birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:28:00 +0000

Happy birthday to my Polytechnic classmate, Justin Teng.

My Big "Brother" R.O.M

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:14:00 +0000

I jumped out of the bed in the morning when i heard my alarm. The alarm must be ringing for quite sometime. I was running late and i rushed out of my house in only 10 minutes. What a coincidence, i met Leslie and Ling Han on the bus to the place.

Today is a special day for a very good friend of mine, Ren Feng. He is getting married! Come to think about it, i've known him around 10 years. Because he is older and more mature than us, he is like a big "brother" to us during Secondary school.

The Solemnisation ceremony took about 20 minutes. I feel happy for him, finding the special someone to accompany him for the rest of his life.

Random shot

We are early!

Start of Ceremony

Time to change your status on facebook, RF.

Group photo

The guys (Me at exterme right)

The ladies

Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:38:00 +0000

I love my Blackberry Bold but being a road idiot, i always wanted a phone that is more for GPS (Global Positioning System). Something with a large screen and clear display, preferbably touch screen as well for better web browsing.

The Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20 fits my bill. Garmin is renown for their GPS navigation products, while Asus is one of the leading IT hardware manufacturer in the world. This can't be a bad phone right?

The phone has a large high resolution screen and it is able to obtain quick GPS lock, making navigation a breeze. Whatmore the Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20 comes with a 3.2mp camera which is much better than my Bold's 2mp camera. The M20 phone also automatically geotags images with the exact latitude and longitudinal coordiantes, isn't that amazing?

Other functions includes HSDPA, Wi-Fi, push Email, multi media Capacity, Document viewing. In other words, it can do almost what my Blackberry Bold is capable of. The only bad point this phone has is that there isn't any microSD slot, meaning that the only storage available is the internal memory.

Off to Johor Bahru!

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:35:00 +0000

Decided to visit our neighbour in the North for the weekends. We boarded a bus from Kranji to the Custom, clearing the custom was a breeze, the queues are short even at the Malaysia side. After exiting the Malaysia's new custom, we were greeted by the huge megamall City Square. It has so many stores infact you can find most of the stores in Singapore here.

We wasted no time and headed to Kim Gary Hong Kong Cafe at Basement. You can't shop with an empty stomach right. In order to order, we have to tick/write the orders on the pieces of paper/menu provided. It is so troublesome, we were having difficulties trying to find our food in the paper as there are lots of different papers. I ordered a bowl of Hot and spicy noodles with pork chop. My order was the last to come, i guess they save the best for the last. The bowl was huge! On the top of my noodles was a layer of red hot chili oil. It came with two deep fried dumplings with some vegetables (turnips) fillings. After a few mouths, my lips swelled and i gave up eating it.

Then we went onto shop, exploring every stores in the shopping mall. The girls decided to do their nails as it is so cheap here. While the girls were doing their nails, me and Jack roamed around the Shopping Centre again. I got my Hamburger the Seed bag from Padini which i promised, which cost SGD 49. I then went on a shopping spree and bought two top from F.O.S and a Lee sandals. I actually saw the Lee sandals quite sometime back in a mass order, but it doesnt have my size that time.

The girls took like 2 plus hours to finish their nails. My legs were like breaking after going round and roud in the shopping mall. We went to the Japanese restaurant for our dinner. A huge Pikachu greeted us outside the restaurant. The food was pretty average, but the price are jaw dropping. It cost only SGD 10 per person, so cheap for the amount and type of food we ordered!

Wow, spent a total of SGD150 unknowingly. Heart pain. We left Malaysia around 9pm and straightaway we continued with Saturday's Part II, L4D 2...

Brunch time

Who wears sunglasses in a HK Cafe?

Borsch and Cream soup

Mushroom/Chicken rice and Pork Cutlet rice

Mine! So huge and spicy.

Dinner at Japanese restaurant

Only around SGD10 per pax, so cheap!

Can you see the fish "swimming"?

Belated Birthday Celebration for TTS

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:16:00 +0000

Headed to Watami at ION Orchard for a Belated Birthday Celebration for TTS. I first came across this restaurant in Central at Clarke Quay recently. Watami is more of a casual Japanese restaurant. Among all the restaurants in ION, it has the longest queue and is always packed. Can't be that bad right?
Anyway attendence are getting dissapointing with only five people attending today. My friends and i were struggling to decide what to order due to the lack of variety of food. Looking at the menu, all the prices are pretty reasonable costing around $10 for every dish. I had the Chicken cutlet which was being served on a sizzling hotplate over the stove. I must say it is pretty good. The chicken cutlet isn't greasy and the sauce isn't salty. However heard from my friend that his Ramen isn't really good. Next came our Salmon Sashimi, pretty firm and has a good texture to it, nice.

Came to a Conclusion: Watami has decent food, decent pricing, good service and good ambience. What more can a typical Singaporean like me ask for.

After our dinner at Watami, we rush our way to Butter Factory at One Fullerton to begin Part 2 of the celebration.

The Sashimi

Chicken cutlet

Christmas in ION

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Roaming around Orchard. I feel that the lightings of the Orchard are better this year compared to the previous years. This is the first Christmas ION is celebrating. And it's Christmas tree is giving the iconic Christmas tree in Takashimaya a run for their money. Not only is the tree huge, people are able to go inside the Christmas tree. So cool, huh.

Nice, isn't it?

Inside of the tree.

Random Shot

Nana Thai (Far East Shopping Centre)

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:02:00 +0000

After a day of hunting for presents, we decided to head to Far East Shopping Centre for dinner. Initially planning to have our fix at Wasabei Tei, but it was closed on sunday. Heard many negative reviews about them after the change of management. Then roamed around and decided on Nana Thai. There is quite a wide variety of dishes, something like a "Zi Char" stall. We went on and picked the 4 pax set priced at $58.80 consisting of 5 dishes of your choice with 4 plain rice. Thats pretty cheap.

The five dishes we had were Tom Yam soup, Stir fried kai lan, Chicken wrapped in leaves, Thai fish cakes, Butter prawns with additional order of the Shark Fin Soup. The Tom Yam soup was good, a subtle blend of spicy and sour. However the rest of the five dishes were pretty average.

Reciept

Shark fin soup.

Tom yam soup

The not so special stir fried kai lan

Chicken wrapped in leaves.

Thai fish cakes

Butter prawns

Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:32:00 +0000

Went to the Crystal Jade Korean Ginseng Chicken and BBQ in Centrepoint. My first impression of the place was pretty good. The waitress were dressed in “hanboks” and greeted us warmly with "Welcome" in Korean. Looking at the menu, there are a lots of dishes to choose from makes me ponder which dishes to order because i am not really into Korean food. Eventually decided on having the set dinner for two person.

First came the appetiser consisting of a few cold vegetables mini dishes including the Kimchi. The rice dish is one of the best rice dishes i have ever tried, although i have forgotten the name of it. I am guessing it to be Kimchi fried rice, because its abit reddish and there are bits of kimchi inside. The rice is sticky and it is abit similar to claypot rice with crispy charred bits inside. So tasty!

Next we had their "Samgyetang", the Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup which is the specialty of the place. Afterall this place named itself after this dish, but was left abit dissapointed. It is'nt bad, nor was it very good. The Samgyetang taste the best when it is hot, however we were too busy with the other dishes. When we tried it, it was already cold and it wasnt really that nice. The soup has an entire chicken inside and it seems that they stewed it for quite sometime because the meat is so tender.

Dining here is not really cheap, cost us around $40 per person. We had a difficult time trying to finish the food, because the portion for the two person dinner was too big for us.

The six small side dishes including Kimchi!

The Tasty Rice

Ginseng chicken soup

Tasty grilled mackerel

World AIDS Day 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:14:00 +0000

December 1 marks the World AIDS day 2009. It is an opportunity to reflect on the millions of people who have been victims of this disease and the millions more who are being infected each and every day, across the planet.

What is HIV?

HIV is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system – the body’s defence against diseases.

Are HIV and AIDS the same?

No. When someone is described as living with HIV, they have the HIV virus in their body. A person is considered to have developed AIDS when the immune system is so weak it can no longer fight off a range of diseases with which it would normally cope.

How is HIV passed on?

HIV can be passed on through infected blood, semen, vaginal fluids or breast milk.

The most common ways HIV is passed on are:

* Sex without a condom with someone living with HIV

* Sharing infected needles, syringes or other injecting drug equipment

* From an HIV-positive mother (to her child) during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding (but with effective treatment and care the risk of transmission can be greatly reduced)

Is there a cure for HIV?
No, but treatment can keep the virus under control and the immune system healthy. People on HIV treatment can live a healthy, active life, although they may experience side effects from the treatment. If HIV is diagnosed late, treatment may be less effective.

Sitex 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Went down to Sitex 2009 one of the biggest Computer fair in Singapore held annually at EXPO. I went on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. My aim is to get a laptop of decent performance something that can be used for light gaming too. Eventually decided on the Asus F83VF, which is priced at S$1,498. It is not exactly a light laptop, but it came with a GT 220 video card, meaning i can play many games including COD Modern Warefare!

When i finally decided on getting it, was told that the stock ran out, infact most of Asus laptops were already out of stock. I was then told by the lady that i had to wait for around three weeks before the shipment come. To say the truth, i am not really suprised as Asus is well known for its excellent reliability and good performance/price ratio. But they are also well known for making boring looking and ugly laptops too. Damn, should have bought it on the first day but i wasn't in a hurry for it. Anyway was pretty much dissapointed with the promoters. There are a alot of promoters there, but i guess most of them know nuts about the products itself. I understand that they are only part timers and they do have limited knowledge, so dint really blame them for it.

Anyway my Sister bought her new 13" Mac Book Pro. It looks real cool, i am so jealous. And the Photo Booth program is so cute.

Carousel @ Royal Plaza

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:58:00 +0000

I am back at Carousel @ Royal Plaza, it is my second visit here. I like the ambience here alot, however it tend to sound like a fish market at time due to the large amount of diner. The price over here at Carousel is very reasonable compared to buffet in other hotels.

Sadly, the quality of some of the food here isn't really up to standard. First, the Sushi bar is dissapointing, with pathetic variety and poorly cut sashimi. Then going on to the cakes section, most of the cakes were quite dry like they weren't fresh. The Otah from the Nasi Lemak is so salty, wonder if it is made from salted fish.

But not all is bad here. The Popiah here is very good, so do the Kueh Pie Tee. I love eating Kueh Pie Tee. It is a Nonya delicacy where you fill a crisp shell with turnip, egg, peanut and parsley. It is just the perfect combination.

Lastly, the service here is good. They have enough waiter around, thus unwanted plates are cleared quickly.

I made these Kuey Pie Tees myself!

The warm Durian Pulp oozing out from the waffles. Must try.

The Cakes are a huge turn off!

Scones are so dry, din't even bother giving it a second bite.

Singapore Taxi Driver's Diary

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:16:00 +0000

Came across this blog, A Singapore Taxi Driver's Diary. Apparently the writer of the blog is a Taxi driver in Singapore. From what i read in his blog, he is a Chinese National and "Probably the only taxi driver in this world with a PhD from Stanford and a proven track record of scientific accomplishments".

"When IMCB of ASTAR terminated my employment, they never explained to me why. They only bothered themselves to the point of telling me that they will no longer support my lab in the institute because they think I am no good to them. I was never given any specific explanation, oral or written, what made them think I was no good after 16 years of hard work in IMCB. Even today, it is still a mystery to me."

-Extract from A Singapore Taxi Driver's Dairy

I am quite impressed with his blog's posts, as the posts' standard can put most singaporeans' english to shame.

Sony VAIO X

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:15:00 +0000

Mirror mirror on the wall, which is the slimest netbook of them all?
It's the Sony VAIO X.

Specification
Processor : 2.0GHz Intel Atom Z550
Memory : 2GB, 533MHz DDR2
Hard drive : 128GB SSD
Chipset : Intel GMA 500 / US15W
Graphics : Mobile Intel GMA 500 (integrated)
Dimensions (WD) : 11 inches wide by 7.3 inches deep
Height : 0.55 inches
Screen size (diagonal) : 11.6 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter : 1.5/2.3 pounds

The VAIO X measures only 13.9mm thick, beating the Macbook Air hands down in terms of thiness. The palm rest is molded from a one piece aluminum plate while the chassis is made out of carbon fiber. It has an 11.1 inch LCD display with 1366 x 768 pixel, featuring VAIO Display Premium and LED backlight.

The VAIO X runs on Windows 7. It uses SSD storage as opposed to the traditional HDD, thus cutting down on alot of weight.

The VAIO X is able to last 16 hours of consecutive use with an optional 8 cell battery, which is damn fricking long.

The limited edition gold Sony VAIO X Series will drive all the girls crazy. Apart from the gold paint, it comes with a subtle matte finish. Dope or should i say sick..

Video: Leave me

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:56:00 +0000

Heartwrenching. Thats the only word i can use to describe this short film. Definitely one of the best short film i ever saw.

A recent widower deals with his grief through his wife's broken camera.

Leave Me from Daros Films on Vimeo.
*Winner of the 2009 36-Hour ChristianFilmmakers.org Contest
*Honorable Mention for Drama at the indieProducer Film Fest (10/1/2009)
*Winner of the Best Short Film category at the 2009 Script2Screen Film Fest in Tulsa, OK! (10/4/2009)

A Christmas Carol

noreply@blogger.com (Yong Kun) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:33:00 +0000

I am sure most of you all are familiar with "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I remember this story, because it's one of redemption. It also shows that people can be compassionate, even someone that is as seemingly heartless as Mr Scrooge. Jim Carrey hogs the majority of the voice work, providing the voice of Scrooge from childhood to old-age, along with the three Ghosts of Christmas. I must say he did a pretty good job, i can't even recognise his voice. The film's animation effect is spectacular. Animation nowadays have improved so much.

*** Spoiler ***

Mr Scrouge is a grumpy old man who has stopped believing in Christmas because of his bitterness to the world. He is entirely unsympathetic to the poor and needy. Scrooge is also neglectful to his own family, such as his nephew Fred. Then one Christmas Eve, Scrooge returns home and is met by the ghost of his former business partner Marley who was in chains. Marley warned that three spirits will soon come to him and that very evening they do. First came the Ghost of Christmas Past, the second the Ghost of Christmas Present and the third the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Each ghost serves to show Scrooge where his life went wrong and what will come if he does not change his ways.

But parents who are planning on bringing their children to this movie, be warned! Some parts of the movie were pretty scary with the ghost popping out suddenly, Scrouge being chased by demonic horses and more.

I especially love the Ghost of Christmas Present scene. So heart warming.